England really isn't the truest test of a batsman against pace as such; it's the ultimate test of a batsman's ability against the ball moving in the air. There's a lot more pace and bounce in Australian and South African pitches (and bowlers at the time, for that matter).

But yeah look Ganguly was technically weak against the short ball - very much so early in his career - and it became something that was regularly targeted. It was the stock standard plan to him whenever he played so he got out like that a fair bit but he forged a good career in spite of that (even away from home to an extent as you pointed out) because (a bit like Gambhir in South Africa I guess, but well, better) he learned to cop a few body shots when he wasn't able to get out of the way and stopped trying to defend throat balls with the bat.

He certainly was not as bad as say Raina is at the moment but it was a weakness.

Last edited by Prince EWS; 01-02-2012 at 11:26 AM.

Rejecting 'analysis by checklist' and 'skill absolutism' since Dec '09
'Stats' is not a synonym for 'Career Test Averages'

Originally Posted by Jeffrey Tucker

People go into politics to change the world. That's a bad idea. The only good reason to go into politics is to sweep government away so that the world can change itself.

He was a great player of spin, a fine player of swing, and a bad player of pace and bounce (by International standards) - but as PEWS pointed out, not as bad as Raina there too. And he overcame that weakness to an extent through grit and determination.

Last edited by weldone; 01-02-2012 at 10:03 PM.

"Cricket is an art. Like all arts it has a technical foundation. To enjoy it does not require technical knowledge, but analysis that is not technically based is mere impressionism."
- C.L.R. James

And smalishah's avatar is the most classy one by far Jan certainly echoes the sentiments of CW

Yeah we don't crap in the first world; most of us would actually have no idea what that was emanating from Ajmal's backside. Why isn't it roses and rainbows like what happens here? PEWS's retort to Ganeshran on Daemon's picture depicting Ajmal's excreta